O’Toole eager to learn from Cobblers’ new midfield maestro

James Heneghan

Cobblers midfielder John-Joe O’Toole is looking forward to learning from his new midfield partner Matthew Taylor after the two combined for Northampton’s winning goal against Barnsley on Tuesday.

Taylor arrived at Sixfields with a wealth of experience, much of it spent in the Premier League, and he’s already produced glimpses of his class in the season’s first two games, none more so than when he whipped in an inch-perfect corner that was headed home by O’Toole to send the Cobblers through to round two of the EFL Cup.

O’Toole was voted Town’s player of the year last season but he believes he can and will further improve by playing alongside someone of Taylor’s quality.

He said: “He’s obviously had a great career and it’s great to have him in there because he’s got so much experience.

“You can see from the goal - I finished it off but it was really all about the ball in because it was inch-perfect and that’s the sort of quality he can bring to the side.

“He’s got a wealth of experience and I just want to try to learn off him and imitate him a lot if I can because he’s got so much experience and he’s a great addition for us.”

O’Toole’s extra-time header on Tuesday capped an excellent performance from the Cobblers as they upset Championship side Barnsley to book their place in round two of the League Cup.

And the midfielder was quick to praise the work of new performance coach John Harbin for helping them get through the 120 minutes.

“John is quite a character,” O’Toole added.

“He has a different approach to what I’m used to in the past but when you work with someone new it always takes a bit of time to get used to their way of doing things and it’s no different with John.

“Everyone’s got on well with him and you can see that we’re getting through the games fine and finishing them strongly so he must be doing something right.”